Sports

Monday, January, 11, 1999

Pecos swimmers 6th, 13th at 4A state meet

PECOS, Jan. 11 -- A group of swimmers and teams the Pecos
Eagles have rarely, if ever, competed against are the ones
Eagles' coach Terri Morse hopes her team will have its
sights set on over the next 13 months, following the
first-ever Class 4A and under state swim meet this past
Friday and Saturday in Temple.

However, for now Morse said her team's sights are set on
this year's district and regionals, which may have cost the
Eagles a few points in the final overall standings.

"We did real good considering several teams were shaved and
tapered," said Morse about the unofficial state meet. "I was
surprised with district and the other stuff coming that the
guy who beat Kevin (Bates) in the 50 free was fully tapered."

John Zimmerman of Grapevine edged out Bates by a 22.27
second to 22.45 time, after Bates had won Friday's prelims
by .05 seconds over Zimmerman. It was the highest finish
overall for Pecos' boys, who finished sixth while the girls
were 13th in their division.

Highland Park's girls and Texas High's (Texarkana) boys took
the overall titles, Highland Park beating Southlake Carroll
by a 413-377 margin, while Pecos finished with 44½ points.
Texas High scored 421 to 290 for Colleyville on the boys'
side, with the Eagles finishing with 109 points.

"I feel good about how the kids performed. I feel like we
could have done better it we were rested and completely
tapered for this meet, but as a team we decided district and
regionals are more important than this meet," Morse said.

"We got everyone into the final (Top 16) at least in a relay
expect for four people," she said. "We got to see
competition from all over the state, to see what it will be
like next year," when the first regional and state meets for
Class 4A and under schools are held.

Bates also made the final individually in the 100 freestyle,
where he finished fifth, while the others to advance to
Saturday's finals were Tye Edwards, 12th in the 100 yard
backstroke; Patrick McChesney, 15th in the 500 freestyle,
and Grant Holland, 15th in the 100 yard breaststroke. The
boys' 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams both took
eighth place, and while the 400 free relay team didn't
finish as high, ending up 13th overall, the Eagles' 400 `B'
relay team also advanced to the finals placing 14th with a
3:55.28 time, 10 seconds behind the ~`A' squad.

In diving, Pecos' Scott Pounds came up with the seventh
place finish, scoring 224.15 points for six dives.

Pecos' girls didn't have a Top 8 finish, but they did place
several swimmers and two of their relays in the next eight
spots, to earn their 44½ points.

The 200 medley relay team was 10th overall and the 400 free
relay also finished in 10th place. Individually, senior Liz
Parent had a couple of 11th place finishes, in the 100 yard
butterfly (1:10.11) and the 500 free (6:00.62). Sarah Florez
was the other Pecos swimmer to advance to the finals, where
she placed 12th in the 100 breaststroke, with a 1:17.73 time.

Outside of Pecos and Monahans, which finished ninth on the
girls' side with 92½ points, almost all the other schools
were from metropolitan areas. Grapevine, San Antonio Alamo
Heights and Coppell also finished ahead of Pecos on the
girls' side, while Grapevine, Highland Park and Austin
Anderson were the other teams to beat out the Eagle boys.

The District 4 meet will be in Pecos on Jan. 30, and the
Eagles will then go up against Class 5A schools for the last
time at regionals in mid-February. As for next year, Morse
said, "I hope this encourages everyone to work a little
harder during the off-season and keep in shape during the
off-season. For our high school program to be a top high
school program we need to expand our program not just at the
USSA (Age Group) level, but at the junior high level. We've
got to expand our base and get more people to choose from."

Eagles enter district off ice-cold loss

By JON FULBRIGHTStaff WriterPECOS, Jan. 11 -- Last season, the Pecos Eagles went into
district boys basketball play on a roll, and proceeded to go
winless in their final 10 games.

The Eagles will be hoping to do better than that when
District 2-4A play starts later this week, and they
definitely won't be going in on any kind of roll, after
Friday's loss at home to the Fort Stockton Panthers.

Pecos was shut out over the final 4½ minutes of the game
after not doing all that much scoring in the first
three-plus periods of the game. Still, the Eagles had pulled
into a 25-all tie with the Panthers when their scoring shut
down completely, and Fort Stockton went on to post their
third victory of the season over Pecos, by a 39-25 final
score.

"Until we start hitting our shots, it's hard to win
ballgames," said Eagles' coach Mike Sadler. "They say they
can't hit them because they're tired. I tried to put some
more people in the ballgame, but we don't have a deep bench,
so what am I going to do?"

About the only good thing for either team on offense Friday
was Fort Stockton's 3-point shooting and Pecos 7-for-9 foul
shooting.

Pecos never scored in double digits in any period, and
ended with just eight field goals on the night. The
Panthers, who scored 10 points in the middle periods and
were 1-for-6 from the foul line, were just as bad from
inside, but got 18 points from beyond the 3-point stripe,
starting with a pair of jumpers by Nathan Reeves and Nathan
Sawyer that staked Fort Stockton to a quick 8-0 lead. They
then ended the game with 3s from Sawyer and Florencio Regino
that broke things open in the final two minutes of play.

Meanwhile, none of the Eagles had much luck shooting the
ball, though Fernando Navarette did manage to get into
double figures, finishing with 12 points and one of Pecos'
two 3-pointer of the game. Oscar Luna, who had 25 in last
Tuesday's overtime loss at Greenwood, managed just a pair of
free throws Friday, as he, Navarette and Hector Garcia
missed off a series of fast break lay-ups in the second
period, although Pecos was able to cut a 15-5 deficit to
15-13 by the end of the second period.

Fort Stockton would widen the lead back to seven in the
third period off a baskets by Luke Groth and Reeves and a
free throw by Sawyer, but a foul shot by Mark Marquez and a
lay-up by Navarette closed the quarter, and when the fourth
period opened Luna hooked up with Navarette for an
`alley-oop' lay-up and then added his only two points of the
night to tie the score.

Pecos then had two chances to take the first lead of the
game but failed, before allowing Sawyer to score off a
steal. Navarette tied it on a lay-up the next time down, off
a Frank Perea pass, but after that, the Eagles' passes
inside were mostly off-target and were stolen by the
Panthers, while Groth nailed a pair of side jumpers to put
Fort Stockton ahead to stay.

"We got out-hustled, no doubt about that," said Sadler'
whose team fell to 8-11 with their loss. Fort Stockton,
which was led by Sawyer and Groth with 12 apiece, improved
to 13-7 on the season.

Pecos will have Tuesday off to rest up before opening
District 2-4A play in Fabens on Friday. Pecos' junior
varsity and freshmen games with Fort Stockton were postponed
until Tuesday, due to a conflict the Panthers' coaches had
with courses at Sul Ross State University in Alpine.

Lobos' start costs Pecos 2-4A opener

PECOS, Jan. 11 -- The District 2-4A basketball season opened
for the Pecos Eagle girls Friday night pretty much the same
way their pre-district schedule had gone, with a lack of
shots and turnovers costing Pecos in a 57-36 loss in El Paso
to the Mountain View Lobos.

"We turned the ball over eight times in our first eight
possession," Eagles' coach Brian Williams said, as Mountain
View scored the first 11 points of the game. "They scored 16
points off turnovers and beat us by 21, so you know what
happened right there.

Pecos did cut that lead at one point to 13-8, off baskets by
Monique Levario, Alexa Marquez and Philonicus Fobbs, but the
Lobos would widen that margin to 27-14 at the half, then
outscored Pecos 20-12 in the final period.

"We started playing in the third quarter, and in the fourth
quarter we did O.K., but we just weren't getting enough
shots. Coach (Becky) Granado said at one point we went 3½-4
minutes when we didn't get a shot up," Williams said.

No Eagle scored in double figures Friday, while Mountain
View got 11 points from Susy Alva and 10 apiece from Monica
Acosta and Christina Aguilar. Fobbs and Shaye Lara had seven
points to lead Pecos, but Williams said the Eagles need more
scoring out of Lara to win in district.

"Shaye was 2-for-7 from the floor. She's one of our leaders
and she can't do that. She's got to get more shots from the
floor," Williams said.

The loss left Pecos with a 3-16 record for the season, while
Mountain View improved their record to 11-10. The Eagles'
next game is Tuesday night, when they host Canutillo, which
lost to Clint in their 2-4A opener on Friday.

Fabens beat San Elizario in Friday's other district opener.
The Eagles will be in Fabens on Friday night, which will
also be the 2-4A opener for Pecos' boys.

Jets plan for Denver after victory over Jags

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Jan. 11 (AP) -- With the field
covered with shadows, the temperatures dipping into the low
teens and the clock ticking off its final seconds, Curtis
Martin gazed into the stands at Giants Stadium and saw an
incredible sight.

Most of the long-suffering souls in the record crowd of
78,817 were still on hand on this early January day for a
Jets' game, -- yes a Jets' game -- smiling, hugging and
cheering and giving one of many final shouts of ``J-E-T-S,
Jets, Jets, Jets.''

Beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-24 Sunday behind two
touchdowns apiece by Curtis Martin and Keyshawn Johnson has
not only moved Bill Parcells' Jets within a game of its
first Super Bowl since 1969, it has also seemingly restored
a downtrodden franchise which two years ago posted a 1-15
record.

Not even the prospect of a game at Denver next Sunday with
the defending champion Broncos (15-2) took away from the
enthusiasm.

``The way I feel about the fans, I'm glad we've been able to
do what we've done,'' Martin said. ``I kind of see the
appreciation of the fans and the organization through the
guys who were here then. They are grateful. I mean they are
feeling like they have never felt before.''

That aside, these Jets (13-4) are not satisfied just making
their first conference title game since 1982. And they also
know they will have to play a lot better next Sunday than
they did in beating the error-prone Jaguars (12-6) for their
first postseason win in 12 years and seventh straight this
season.

``They (the Broncos) are a Super Bowl team, and that's what
we want to be,'' said Johnson, who had a spectacular game
with nine catches, a fumble recovery and an interception to
go along with two TDs, one rushing and one receiving.
``They've got the edge, they're rolling. I think what really
helped them out and get going again was losing (to the New
York Giants and Miami late in the season). They have got
their confidence back now.''

Against the Jaguars, the Jets rolled up 429 total yards and
29 first downs while holding the ball for 39:16, including
all but 51 seconds of the second quarter. Martin, Johnson
and Vinny Testaverde (24 of 36 for 284) were the keys to the
offense.

Martin had 124 yards rushing on 36 carries, six catches for
58 yards and scored on two 1-yard runs in the third quarter.
Johnson had 121 receiving yards, including a 21-yard TD
catch to cap the Jets' opening drive, and a 10-yard run on a
second-quarter reverse to push the lead to 17-0.

Jets' mistakes helped set up two of Mark Brunell's three
touchdown passes. The first came on a 52-yard bomb to Jimmy
Smith on the final play of the first half.

After Martin's first touchdown run restored the 17-point
lead, Reggie Barlow's 88-yard return on the ensuing kickoff
set up a 3-yard, fourth-down TD pass to Keenan McCardell. A
fourth-quarter fumble by Wayne Chrebet led to a Mike Hollis'
field goal that narrowed New York's lead to 31-24, while
Testaverde threw an interception in the end zone with 2:24
to play.

The Jaguars were just as giving. A big mistake came on a
47-yard fumble return when safety Chris Hudson, who had
scooped the ball up, attempted a lateral attempt that was
recovered by Johnson. Instead of Jacksonville having the
ball in New York territory trailing 10-0, the Jets got the
ball back and scored.

Rookie safety Donovin Darius intercepted a Jets pass in the
end zone and tried to run the ball out. He was tackled on
his own 1.

Brunell could not move the ball and John Hall eventually
kicked a 30-yard field goal to ice the game.

``There were too many errors made,'' Jaguars coach Tom
Coughlin said. ``Turnovers when we couldn't have turnovers,
mistakes we made with the ball. They were all huge factors
when you get to the end of the game and you're going back
and totaling everything up.''

The Jets cannot afford those errors next week if they hope
to make Parcells the first coach to lead three teams -- the
Giants and New England Patriots previously -- to the Super
Bowl.

Denver earned its spot in the conference final with a 38-3
win over Miami on Saturday.

``This is great, but it's not what we're all after,''
veteran Jets linebacker Mo Lewis said. ``Wait til next week,
then I'll let you know how it feels.''

``It's not a matter of wanting money or fame,'' added
Testaverde, who is 13-1 since taking over as the starter.
``I want a chance to play for a Super Bowl ring to make my
career complete. We're playing to win the championship, not
play in the AFC championship game.''